Have you ever been in love?
Maybe you weren't as corny as this couple, but I'd venture a guess that most of us have, at some point in our lives, acted like goofballs because of how we felt about that special someone. Maybe it was sacrificing sleep to spend a little extra time together, or spending a ridiculous amount of time on the phone just to hear your true love's voice. Maybe it was spending extravagant sums of money to lavish gifts upon your loved one. Or maybe just feeling all swoon-ish when they're near.
I like country music, but haven't listened to it much lately. On the way to Florida, however, we kept losing radio channels and having to find new ones, and we listened to a good bit of country. A song I liked came on; it's about how this fellow is acting because he is head-over-heels in love:
Maybe you weren't as corny as this couple, but I'd venture a guess that most of us have, at some point in our lives, acted like goofballs because of how we felt about that special someone. Maybe it was sacrificing sleep to spend a little extra time together, or spending a ridiculous amount of time on the phone just to hear your true love's voice. Maybe it was spending extravagant sums of money to lavish gifts upon your loved one. Or maybe just feeling all swoon-ish when they're near.
I like country music, but haven't listened to it much lately. On the way to Florida, however, we kept losing radio channels and having to find new ones, and we listened to a good bit of country. A song I liked came on; it's about how this fellow is acting because he is head-over-heels in love:
What a beautiful mess!
What a beautiful mess I'm in.
Spendin' all my time with you,
There's nothin' else I'd rather do.
What a sweet addiction that I'm caught up in.
'Cause I can't get enough,
Can't stop the hunger for your love.
What a beautiful, what a beautiful mess I'm in.
I've been reading the book Crazy Love by Francis Chan, and I've been challenged by what God is showing me through it. Every chapter leaves me with a lot to think about, but one particular thing I'm spending a great deal of time thinking about what it means to be in love with Christ. As I listened to that country song, I remembered when Ken and I were newly in love, then I started thinking that being in love with Christ should be that way, too. Do I have a hunger for Him, for His love? Do I crave more and more time with Him? Would I really rather be with Him than do anything else?
Ponder this: If you could have heaven, with no sickness, and with all the friends you ever had on earth, and all the food you ever liked, and all the leisure activities you ever enjoyed, and all the natural beauties you ever saw, all the physical pleasures you ever tasted, and no human conflict or any natural disasters, could you be satisfied with heaven, if Christ was not there? (Quoted from John Piper)
If we are truly in love with Christ, that would NOT be enough. I guess the thing to really think about is whether we do what we do out of a feeling of obligation, or maybe out of a desire to get something in return for our good works. Or is it truly because of a passionate love for Christ?
I want to be consumed with Christ. I want to love passionately, and that means not only loving God that way, but loving others that way, too. I can't claim to love God, but refuse to love the people He created, even the annoying, hard-to-get-along-with people.
I want to love hard.
Ponder this: If you could have heaven, with no sickness, and with all the friends you ever had on earth, and all the food you ever liked, and all the leisure activities you ever enjoyed, and all the natural beauties you ever saw, all the physical pleasures you ever tasted, and no human conflict or any natural disasters, could you be satisfied with heaven, if Christ was not there? (Quoted from John Piper)
If we are truly in love with Christ, that would NOT be enough. I guess the thing to really think about is whether we do what we do out of a feeling of obligation, or maybe out of a desire to get something in return for our good works. Or is it truly because of a passionate love for Christ?
I want to be consumed with Christ. I want to love passionately, and that means not only loving God that way, but loving others that way, too. I can't claim to love God, but refuse to love the people He created, even the annoying, hard-to-get-along-with people.
I want to love hard.
